A series of images from the Huangshan and Jiuhaushan mountain ranges located in Anhui Province about 5-6 hours west of Shanghai.

I look at 6 days trip out of Shanghai, hiring a car and having my first experience driving on the roads in China.  Happy to say there were no mishaps and I got the car back to Shanghai in one piece!

Seen in Huangshan :: October 2010

This close to autumn and nearing sunset shot was taken a few weeks ago during the October China holiday.

The framing of the trees, the slightly yellow colour and the detail of the mountains, trees and clouds make this image work for me.  If you look carefully at the rocks, you can also make out what looks like a small monkey sitting on the mountain top to the left.

Taken on a beautiful October day in 2010.  Huangshan, aka the Yellow Mountains, rock!

Simply an amazing view and a real feat of building.  This buddhist temple sits near the top of one of the mountains in the Jiuhuashan region. Not so high up though that I can’t get the view of this amazing building from a neighbouring climb.

This image really appeals to me, I can definitely see why others might not like it.  However, I like the focus on the tree and the blur framing that focus. It’s great to me!

Strong sunlight in the Huangshan area.

These leaves are on one of the trails in Huangshan (the Yellow Mountains in China). I had recently been reading through a blog by an American photographer and filmmaker called Jeff Hutchens, his blog called Dealing with vagaries has some nice work on it and I’ve been particularly impressed by the way he often shoots for the highlights (this shot from NYC is a particularly good example http://www.jeffhutchens.com/2009/05/lightly-lit-light.html).  I’ve been looking for opportunities to shoot subjects in a similar manner and these leaves were backlit beautifully when I was in the Yellow Mountains and so I took the opportunity!  Of course, it was daylight when I took this shot, but being able to manipulate the light in this image is a lot of fun!

Some people advised me not to stay in China during the October National Holiday, suggesting it was going to be too busy everywhere in China…  to some extent they are right, the tourist spots in China do get very crowded. This image here shows some of the crowds in line just to go along a trail in the Huangshan region!  Of course most, if not all, of these people are visiting Huangshan on a tour and they don’t have much choice as to what they see and where they go.  However, they do get to wear fantastic yellow and red hats!

For me and my friends, we took a trail just around the corner from here and within 5 minutes it was quiet and with hardly a soul in sight ?  Plus the views were amazing!

Looking at the image above, then you might be thinking about avoiding Huangshan as some of the crowds are simply crazy.  However it doesn’t take much to walk away from where all the tour groups go and find a peaceful and relaxing walk.  The views, of course, are fantastic!

This beautiful sunrise completes my tour of the region.